Active flow control changes the paradigm of aerodynamic design of current and future wing-borne systems in subsonic, transonic and supersonic flow. Active flow control should be an inherent input to the conceptual design of the next generation of commercial and military flight vehicles. Retrofitted to current fixed-wing aircraft, active flow control can “clean up” complex three-dimensional, external flow separations on the wing top surface particularly severe under maneuvering conditions. Active flow control can inhibit flow distortion at the compressor face in supersonic inlets emanating from shock/boundary-layer interactions on the inlet sidewalls, at the inlet throat, and in the subsonic diffuser. Active flow control makes feasible aerodynamic design for high lift/drag ratios at cruise and efficient subsonic/transonic performance at off-design conditions, taking into account environmental and performance constraints. The outcome is a reduction in overall drag of the vehicle, alleviation of unsteady loads and prevention of the expulsion of the inlet shock system (that may lead to catastrophic loss of the airframe).
It is known to use a synthetic jet (also termed a zero net mass flux jet) to influence the flow over a surface, for example to control flow separation from an airfoil. An isolated synthetic jet is produced by the interactions of a train of vortices that are typically formed by alternating momentary ejection and suction of fluid through an orifice of an actuator. A typical synthetic jet actuator (SJA) comprises a housing defining an internal chamber. An orifice is present in a wall of the housing. The actuator further includes a mechanism in or about the housing for periodically changing the volume within the internal chamber so that a series of fluid vortices are generated and projected in an external environment out from the orifice of the housing. Various volume changing mechanisms are known, for example a piston positioned in the jet housing to move so that fluid is moved in and out of the orifice during reciprocation of the piston, or a flexible diaphragm as a wall of the housing. The flexible diaphragm is typically actuated by a piezoelectric actuator or other appropriate means.
A conventional SJA configuration is shown in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b). The conventional SJA 10 comprises a metal cylinder 12 with an active diaphragm 14 on the bottom, and a passive diaphragm 16 on the top. In the center of the top diaphragm is a circular inlet/outlet orifice 18. The active diaphragm comprises a unimorph that in turn comprises a thin strip of piezoelectric material (e.g., ceramic) bonded to a strip of metal (e.g., brass). Electrodes are positioned on either side of the strip of piezoelectric material in order to apply a voltage (the connections to the electrodes and the power source are not illustrated in FIG. 1).
When voltage is not applied to the active diaphragm, the active diaphragm is substantially flat as shown in FIG. 1(a). When a voltage is applied to the active diaphragm, the active diaphragm flexes upward as shown in FIG. 1(b). This upward flexing of the active diaphragm reduces the volume of the chamber and causes air to be jetted out (as illustrated by the dashed arrow). For the conventional SJA, a negative transverse strain mode is used in the diameter direction of the piezoelectric diaphragm. This limits the displacement of the bottom diaphragm for two reasons: (1) piezoelectric transverse strain in ceramics and single crystals is about half of its longitudinal strain; and (2) the negative transverse strain induces the ceramic component to shrink along its diameter direction, reducing the flexing displacement of the diaphragm.
In the past a few years, a number of computational fluid dynamics studies have indicated that SJAs have the potential to be used for active flow control in supersonic, hypersonic, and subsonic vehicles. A number of theoretical studies indicate that the synthetic jet actuator is one of the most efficient devices for flow control. According to these studies, the interaction of synthetic jets with an external cross flow over the surface on which they are mounted can displace the local streamlines and can induce an apparent or virtual change in the shape of the surface, thereby effecting flow changes on length scales that are one to two orders of magnitude larger than the characteristic scale of the jets. Global control of the aircraft will be enhanced, using this new-generation control structure. A number of experimental studies have demonstrated this effect, but they have shown that jet velocity is not high enough to be used at supersonic speeds. Unfortunately, the jet velocity and mass flow rate of currently existing SJAs are not high enough to meet the needs of active dynamic controls for space missions. In today's technological climate, there is a strong impetus to develop piezoelectric synthetic jet actuators with jet velocities of over 150 meters per second (m/s) at non-resonance working mode.